


renewed, transfigured, in another pattern

by midwinterspring



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Depression, Dreams, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Happy Ending, Kyber Crystals (Star Wars), No Pregnancy, Not Eating, Post-Canon, Redeemed Ben Solo, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Fix-It, The World Between Worlds (Star Wars), astronomical imagery, temporary though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:27:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28907796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midwinterspring/pseuds/midwinterspring
Summary: Rey mourns on Tatooine while Ben is stuck in the World Between Worlds. But neither of them are alone, and blue butterflies light a path back to each other.Written for the prompt, "Post-canon resurrection with lots of wacky force stuff". I hope you enjoy!
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 11
Kudos: 31
Collections: To Find Your Kiss: The Reylo Fanfiction Anthology's Valentine's Day Exchange





	renewed, transfigured, in another pattern

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yodalorian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yodalorian/gifts).



> Thank you so much to [TristenCrone](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TristenCrone) for the thoughtful beta!
> 
> The one part of TROS I didn't reference here is Rey taking the name Skywalker. You can headcanon that she did in this story, or not.

Rey didn't quite know why she was still on Tatooine. She had seen the homestead where Luke grew up, buried the sabers, received the benediction of ghosts. And then...she had simply stayed, because there was nowhere else she wanted to be. A place would not heal her grief, no matter where she was.

She had tried to celebrate with the Resistance, after Exegol. They had tried to include her. Rose wanted to fix ships with her, Poe wanted her input on the new government, and Finn had questions about the Force as he explored his newfound connection to it. Maz looked at her with sympathy in her eyes. Of all the people left on Ajan Kloss, Maz Kanata seemed most likely to understand what had happened on Exegol. Rey wasn't sure whether talking about it or not talking about it was worse. She wasn't ready to find out, though.

She tried to find solace amid the green life of Ajan Kloss. Walking in the jungle around the base had been one of her favorite things to do before, but now it hurt to feel the life around her. It hurt to open herself up to the Force, to truly feel the gnawing absence that had been her bond with Ben.

One night, when she was sitting around the campfire with some of the Resistance, someone had said something stupid and unthinking about “Kylo Ren”. 

"His _name_ was Ben Solo," she hissed. "He came to help me on Exegol, and he died saving my life." She got up and stormed away from the fire, before she said or did something she would regret.

The next day, she packed up her few things and got the Falcon ready to leave. Her friends came to see her off, and no one mentioned what had happened the previous night. When they asked where she was going, she said, "Tatooine. Jedi business." She felt bad pulling rank or alluding to secret powers like that, but she couldn't stay around them anymore.

Poe said she could take BB-8 with her. "Are you spying on me?" she asked.

"No," he said, looking hurt. "Thought you might want the company."

It wasn't BB-8's fault she was upset, so she took the droid. Finn, Rose, and Jannah asked her to stay in touch via holocalls, and she said she would, noncommittally. Chewie hugged her tightly, and she wondered if someone had told him what she had said last night. He deserved to know that Ben had turned at the end. But it wasn't a conversation she could have right now.

Finally, right before she walked up the ramp into the Falcon, Maz showed up. She didn't say anything, just put a stone in Rey's hand and walked away. The stone hummed when Rey wrapped her hand around it. It felt soothing and right. Rey knew before she looked at it that it was a kyber crystal.

Before Exegol, she had been excited at the thought of making a new lightsaber. She'd gotten bits and pieces for one in between training and missions. Now, that she’d settled in on Tatooine, it was something to do.

Scavenging parts was still second nature, and so was clearing out parts of the Lars homestead for a workshop. As she made her lightsaber in a Force trance, sometimes she was sure she felt Ben's hands over hers, felt his admiration wrapping around her. But when it was done, she was once more alone.

And when the old sabers sank in the sand, and the blue outlines of Luke and Leia faded, she felt more alone than she ever had before.

*

Time was a construct that no longer mattered to Ben Solo. After he had closed his eyes on Exegol he opened them _here_ , surrounded by blue light and thousands of galaxies. He still seemed to have a body, supported by something invisible like a glass floor over the vastness of space.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed since then. He didn't get hungry, or tired. The galaxies slowly, slowly shifted around him.

Ben thought of his family. He thought of his regrets, which were many. More than anything, he thought of Rey. He remembered the way she had held his hand at the end. He could sense where their bond should have been, now the faintest thread. She was still alive; he knew that, but he couldn't see or sense anything beyond that.

He wasn't sure what was supposed to happen next, if anything was. He sat and meditated. He attempted to walk around on the vast surface, but didn't seem to get very far. Or perhaps the space was simply so large it didn't feel like he was making progress.

Ben looked down at himself. He wore the clothes he had died in, although they didn't show any further signs of wear. He decided he didn't want to wear the remnants of his former self, even if none of it was real, or corporeal.

He didn't seem to have anything else to do here, anyway. He visualized himself in different clothes — grey shirt and dark brown pants, with a black vest and brown belts over them. _A smuggler's outfit,_ he thought with a pang of the grief and regret for his dad that had been his constant companion for the past year.

Suddenly, a glowing blue butterfly danced in front of Ben's vision. "Changing your outfit in the World Between Worlds. You really are my grandson," said a warm voice.

Ben looked up, and saw a woman with long wavy brown hair, in a dress that looked like it was made out of the stars and galaxies around them. She was surrounded by blue butterflies, looking like the ones he had freed from cages a very long time ago.

"Grandma Padme?" he asked.

She nodded, and moved closer to him. A few butterflies flew away from her to circle around him.

"What are you doing here? And what did you call this place?" he asked.

"This is the World Between Worlds. A realm that bridges many times and spaces. The one I love dearly tried to bring me back to life once. But he drew on the Dark Side and acted in greed and selfishness and so...I am here instead."

"Are you stuck? I'm sorry," Ben said.

"It's not too bad," she said. "I see Anakin sometimes, and my children. Sometimes others. Leia asked me to help you. It can be...strange to navigate here, so I came as soon as I could."

"My mother," said Ben. Tears were hot in his eyes again.

"She never gave up on you. Neither did I. Palpatine made it hard for me, and anyone else here, to reach you."

"Where is my mother now?"

"She is part of the Force. Sometimes she can come here and interact, or visit the realm of the living. You will see her again soon, I think."

"So why am I not where she is? I died, right?"

"Well yes...and no. Your dyad bond with Rey bridges time and space, life and death. Rey is still alive, so the tiniest part of you is too, and you remain here."

"So then... I could go to Rey?" He walked closer to Padme.

Padme smiled. "Ah yes, you may be able to."

"I've sensed her sometimes, but I haven't been able to see her," he said sadly.

"I can help with that," Padme said. "This is a strange place, but I've had a while to learn its secrets."

She gestured, and something swirled next to Ben, and then he could see Rey, crying and getting into bed in a room that looked strangely familiar.

"She's on Tatooine," Padme said.

"A desert planet? Oh no," he said, stricken. "Can I touch her?"

"I'm not sure," said Padme. "I don't know everything your bond is capable of."

*

Rey took out the sweater she had kept from Exegol. It still smelled faintly like fire and ozone, and _him_. She buried her face in it and cried, wondering if her tears or Kef Bir's waves had added more salt to it. Just as she was about to fall asleep, she almost thought she could feel Ben's arms around her.

In her dream, Rey floated in front of an enormous nebula that looked like a blue butterfly. It was searingly bright in all possible ways, burning away all illusions. Rey felt her loneliness and the raw bleeding edge of grief where the bond should connect her to Ben.

The sense of presence around and within her was immense, like what she had felt on the stone ledge at Ahch-to, but magnified. The Force breathed around her.

 _"Why?"_ she screamed. "I did everything you wanted. I cleaned up your mess. I was your _vessel_ , and now I'm alone again, and you abandoned Ben...Why make a dyad at all?"

"We wanted to know Ourselves," came a chorus of voices from around and inside her. "For the chance of balance, of union," the voices whispered.

" _Then why would you take him away from me?_ When he was finally free, and happy?"

"He is not gone," the voice whispered again. "No one is ever really gone. Nothing is wasted. Everything is transformed." The nebula blazed in front of her, and she suddenly knew that in the stars in its center, atoms were being fused, atoms that might one day become part of lifeforms. But that was far beyond a human lifespan.

"I can't _touch_ him," Rey yelled, voice rising in fury and sorrow. "You abandoned him!"

"No," said a voice, now singular and familiar. _Leia._ "I have not abandoned my son. He is caught between life and death in the World Between Worlds. There is a way he could come back, through one of the places where the worlds are close together."

"How?" asked Rey, and then suddenly she woke up. She was still holding Ben's sweater, and somehow the arms had ended up wrapped around her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a blue butterfly fly away.

She sat and listened to the Force, but there was nothing there but a dull ache in her chest. After a few minutes, she sighed and got up to make her morning caf.

*

Tatooine was a desert, but not as dry as Jakku. After all, water could be harvested from the air here. There was just enough humidity to make the sand coarse and clumpy, and to rust equipment if it wasn't taken care of properly.

Rey brushed herself off disgustedly after her regular maintenance check on the vaporators in the courtyard. The sand here got _everywhere_.

"You know, my Ani hated sand too," said a woman's voice.

Rey startled. A woman crouched in the courtyard, wearing simple brown and grey clothing. Her brown hair was pulled back from her face. She glowed blue at the edges.

"Who are you?" Rey asked. She didn't get a sense of danger from the woman, but she didn't recognize her either. 

"My name is Shmi. I'm Ben's great grandmother. I lived here, once," she said.

"Were you...a Jedi?" Rey asked.

Shmi laughed gently. "No. But the Force has never been the sole possession of the Jedi - or of anyone for that matter. Luke was right about that, at least."

"You knew about that? You knew about Ben?"

"I've been watching, when I could," said Shmi. "It's hard for me to intervene, and Palpatine blocked me and others who cared about Ben for so long. But I'm here now, and there is some help I can give." She looked at Rey and shook her head. "You need to take care of yourself, Rey."

"I...am," said Rey, not sure what it had to do with anything. She was sleeping sometimes, she drank plenty of water, and she had eaten lunch...well, actually she hadn't. But she had eaten breakfast at least, and she was pretty sure she had had three meals yesterday. Or was it the day before?

As if she could read Rey's thoughts, Shmi shook her head again. "You need to take _better_ care of yourself. For your own sake especially, but also for Ben's. His life force brought you back to life, and your own life force needs to be strong enough that you can give him some in return, when it's time to bring him home."

"Wait - what?" Rey couldn't believe what she had heard. But Shmi had disappeared. All Rey saw was a single blue butterfly, flying across the courtyard and off into the desert.

*

Between the dream and Shmi's visit, Rey felt very confused, and the tiniest bit hopeful. She had an easier time falling asleep that night. She dreamt again, this time of a wide ocean.

_At night, desperate to sleep, you imagine an ocean. I see it..._

But it wasn't the ocean around Ahch-to that she had imagined in a calm moment, years before she had actually seen it. It was a grey ocean with huge waves, surrounding pieces of jagged metal whispering with darkness from the past.

And there was another whisper there too. A plaintive cry, a piece of Ben he'd abandoned...

His cracked kyber crystal waited under the ocean, calling for her.

*

The next morning, she looked around for Shmi, or more butterflies, or something. She didn't see or hear anything unusual, but she kept thinking of the kyber, still bonded to someone who was still bonded to _her_. Both Shmi and the voice of the Force in her dream had said it was possible to bring Ben back, but hadn't given her any more information. Maybe his kyber would help with that.

She'd promised Shmi she'd take care of herself, so she went into town to buy some food. It was still strange to her to be able to afford something beside portions, but the Resistance had made sure she had credits that would be accepted here. When she had protested, they said something about wages for the repair work she had done during the previous year.

She got some fresh food at a market stall, and some dried meat and fruit that would keep for a while. There was a baker's stall near the dried fruit seller, and the muja fruit muffins there looked good. It was such a strange feeling to find something appealing, so she bought two.

"See, I'm taking care of myself," she said out loud as she ate, back in the homestead. She didn't hear or see Shmi, but BB-8 beeped happily.

When she was done, she went into the Falcon and called Jannah. The other woman looked surprised and relieved. Rey asked about navigation to Kef Bir and tips for making a better landing this time.

"Were you going to take me up on my offer of orbak riding lessons? Lando and I are about to go on a mission, but I may have some time after that."

"Oh, not right now, but thank you," said Rey, and meant it. "There's something I need to find there."

She told Jannah what she was looking for, and Jannah gave her the information she had requested. "Well, you stay safe, okay?" she said afterwards.

"I will," said Rey.

 _Since when was the entire galaxy concerned about my wellbeing?_ Rey wondered. Still, it was kind of nice.

* 

When Ben had poured his life force into Rey, he had also given her his memories, more than what she had already seen through the bond. She felt her heart break all over again when she saw him hug her lifeless body on Exegol, and look around desperately for help that didn't come. The Jedi _owed_ him for that, even more than they owed her for what she'd done and what she'd given up.

In Ben's memories, she'd also seen him bleed his kyber crystal, when he thought he had no choice but to fall. She knew it was incredibly rare and painful for someone to bleed the crystal they had bonded to. Now, it called to her, present even at a distance as Rey piloted the Falcon to the coordinates Jannah had given her. Could it be the key to bringing him back?

Kef Bir's ocean was slightly calmer than the first time she had visited, but not by much. Jannah had sent word ahead that Rey was coming, and she'd been able to borrow a skimmer with plenty of reassurances that she'd return it this time.

She piloted it to where she could feel the lightsaber under the water. She'd seen Luke's ghost pull an x-wing from the ocean, but this would be much easier. Ben's lightsaber was heavy with emotion and meaning, but it was physically small and light. It flew gracefully out of the water and into her hand, like it had in Snoke's throne room. She held it as the skimmer rocked on the turbulent ocean. "I will not abandon you," she whispered, and wasn't sure if she was speaking to the crystal or Ben stuck wherever he was, or both.

*

Having safely returned to shore, Rey sat in the Falcon with the crystal. Kef Bir was as good of place to try to fix it as any, and she had permission to stay as long as she needed.

She reached for the kyber in the Force. It glowed dully red and hovered in front of her. It felt like _Ben_ , like the parts of him that lashed out at everyone, and especially himself. She never thought she'd be brought to tears by a rock, but she cried as she listened to the crystal. He'd been so lonely, and so desperate, manipulated to believe no one cared about him. "I loved him," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."

The kyber crystal was part of him. _All are intertwined: The crystal, The blade, The Jedi,_ she had read in one of the sacred texts as she prepared to make her lightsaber.

He should be the one to heal the crystal, but he wasn't here. She was. She had fixed Anakin's saber; now she would fix his grandson's.

She sensed the raw wound in the crystal. Slowly, she fed energy into the stone. It was a little bit like healing a person, repatterning a matrix instead of knitting veins and flesh back together. "I love you, Ben," she whispered, and the new form took, and held, softly glowing a pale blue.

She held the crystal to her heart. It _sighed._

"What now?" she whispered.

There was no answer, and the glow slowly faded. Well, there was one more thing she could do. She still had the rest of Ben's saber, but she wasn't sure if he would want to put the crystal back into it, or make a saber of a different design if he came back. _When_ he came back.

In the meantime, she wanted to keep this crystal close to her. Over the years, she'd had to rewire many devices, and she'd also created various methods to hold and fasten objects. She took some copper wire from the workshop and wrapped it around the crystal until it was held securely, with a loop so she could thread it on a cord. She put on her new necklace and somehow felt a little better.

She felt exhausted from the intense Force work. She ate some dinner, and curled up to sleep in the Falcon's bunk, still wearing the kyber. This time she was sure she could feel Ben holding her, and she fell asleep quickly.

*

Rey slept well, and woke up remembering Leia's words in the dream she was pretty sure had been a Force vision. "One of the places where the worlds are close together." Something about that seemed familiar.

Over her breakfast caf from the Falcon's kitchen, she looked at one of the Sacred Texts. It was just as dense and obscure as she remembered, but she finally found what she was looking for. One of the pages described something called the Chain Worlds Theorem, an idea that certain places were powerfully connected to the Force… and what's more, were connected to each other.

Rey saw both Ahch-to and Exegol in the diagram and wasn't surprised. The Force had been so _present_ in both places… but neither of them seemed right for this next step.

"What do I do?" she asked out loud, hoping Ben, Shmi, or _someone_ would answer. She didn't hear anything, but the crystal hanging over her heart pulsed. "Oh, of course," she said.

She pulled off the necklace and held the cord so that the crystal could swing freely over the diagram in the book. Some scavengers on Jakku did something similar with bits of wire and swore that it led them to valuable finds.

"Where do I go to bring you back, Ben?" she asked. The Force swirled around her like a gentle breeze, and the crystal swayed in a circle, then paused, gently vibrating, over a circle on the page that said _Devaron. Temple of Eedit._

 _Hmmm._ She moved her hand away from the book, paused, then brought it back. Again the crystal swayed, then moved back to Devaron. This time, Rey thought she felt Ben's hand resting against hers. 

"Okay then," she said.

She looked up Devaron on her datapad. It was a jungle planet, which sounded nice to visit. It had been affiliated with the New Republic as well, and had never become part of the First Order. Hopefully she wouldn't have any trouble going there, but she realized she should make sure.

Reluctantly, she holocalled Poe. One way or another, it seemed like she couldn't completely disconnect herself from the Resistance.

She had no idea what time it was on Ajan Kloss, but Poe answered and didn't seem annoyed. In fact, he seemed glad to hear from her. "You shouldn't have any problems landing on Devaron," he said, when he heard about her mission. "Our records show a ruined temple there, damaged by the Empire. It's surrounded by jungle but still somewhat of a place of pilgrimage, so you should be able to land just fine if you're careful."

He looked at her and shook himself a little. "Who am I kidding? You have the Force, you'll be fine," he said.

"Sure I will," Rey said, trying to sound confident and enthusiastic.

During the conversation, BB-8 had rolled up next to Rey. He beeped excited to see Poe's hologram.

"Hi there, little guy," Poe said. "Are you taking care of Rey?"

BB-8 rolled back and forth and beeped, _I'm trying_.

"Okay," said Poe. "That's good. Stay safe, both of you."

*

Rey had coordinates to the Temple from Poe, but she barely needed them. As soon as she got vaguely close, she could sense the Vergence the temple had been built on. When she landed the Falcon and got out, she felt its presence like a wave of light and healing.

 _No wonder this is where I needed to go,_ she thought.

Rey followed that presence toward the Temple ruins, her excitement building with every step. She had almost forgotten what hope was, and she was still afraid to feel too much. But the kyber crystal was warm against her chest, and pulsed with soft presence. She could almost hear Ben whispering, _Soon. Soon, my love._

When she got there, she saw that the Devaronians had kept the space from being completely swallowed by the jungle. They had cleared some of the rubble, but not all of it. It was second nature for Rey to climb over what was left, checking for pits and old munitions and any other dangers. She made it about halfway into what must have been the entrance courtyard and found she didn't need to go further. _Here_ , the huge presence of the Vergence breathed, and she stopped and centered herself.

With her feelings, she reached for the heart of the Vergence, and what lay beyond it. She used Ben's kyber as a focus as she sensed the bond between them. It was like a thread, reaching into a completely different world.

 _Come back to me, Ben Solo,_ she breathed into the Force. The weather was the same as it had been a minute ago, but thick mist began to fill the courtyard, forming a wall in front of her. A blue butterfly flew past her, then another. _Come back to me, my love._

She felt the bond fully now, raw and open, and the other end wasn't, _wasn't_ empty.

She remembered bright lights in space, the nebula she had dreamed of blazing in front of her. _Make this right! Heal this! Bring him back to me!_

 _Trust,_ an immense voice said.

She sensed Ben at the other end of the bond, and pulled him closer.

_Trust._

She opened herself to the Force, seeing the immense blue butterfly nebula again. Shmi's spectral hand was on her arm. She let the Force flow through her, drawing on some of the intense light of the nebula as she fed the life force Ben had given to her back to him slowly through the bond.

She felt the connection grow stronger. The Force poured through her. _Come back to me. Come back to me, my love. Come back to me, Ben._

She saw the energy she sent Ben take the form of blue butterflies. More and more of them flew toward the mist, glowing faintly. The mist cleared a little, and she saw the butterflies surround and define a figure, seeming to pull it forward. She thought she could see other figures behind it, faint and glowing.

Somewhere, far across the galaxy, the two stars spiraling around each other at the heart of the butterfly nebula finally met and merged, throwing off staggering amounts of energy. Rey felt the bond between her and Ben strengthen, and she sent him some of that energy, brighter than anything she had ever seen.

*

"It's time," Padme said. There were other blue glowing figures with her, and they surrounded Ben in a collective embrace. His mother held him tightly, and her presence felt like forgiveness and hope and apology. A tall man with a scar on one side of face put his hand on his shoulder with such a sense of _understanding_ that Ben knew it had to be Anakin. And Han was there, faint but quite present. Ben sobbed as Han hugged him tightly.

The galaxies around Ben swirled again, and then he could see a wall of mist in front of him. He felt something pulling him forward.

The bond opened wide as the mist lightened, and he could see Rey on the other side, with a ghostly woman next to her. The glowing butterflies formed a bridge through the mist.

"Go on," whispered Padme.

"I love you," Leia said. "Now go to her."

"Go on kid," said Han. "Don't make Rey wait any longer."

A voice as immense as the Galaxy, like the voice of the Force itself, resounded through him. _Live. Heal. Shine._

 _I will,_ he answered.

And Rey pulled him through.

He was remade as he moved through the mist. For a moment, he saw a huge bright nebula that looked like a butterfly, and he was washed in the energy and matter that streamed from its conflagration. Rey pulled him forward, and every atom in his body coalesced anew at her call.

*

The kyber around Rey's neck glowed brilliant blue and chimed loudly, and then Ben was there, real and solid and stumbling into her arms. She clung to him tightly. He was there. He was _alive_. The Force exhaled around them with a tangible sense of balance restored.

Ben looked at her with awe and smiled, only the second of his impossibly beautiful smiles she had ever seen. She ran a thumb across his cheeks, feeling his dimples. This time, she had time to touch his hair, and it was as wonderful and silky as she had imagined. Their bond was completely open, so she realized he could hear her thoughts. He just smiled wider.

Then slowly, carefully, she leaned in for a kiss. _Oh yes,_ he thought, and then their lips met. His mouth was warm and full of _life_. The kiss was soft and slow, like Rey couldn't believe he was really there. She worried he would collapse like the first time they had kissed. But he didn't.

When they stopped kissing for a moment, Rey pulled the crystal's cord off from around her neck. "This is yours," she said to Ben, and hung it around his neck. The crystal sighed as it settled over his heart.

"You healed it," he said. "You brought me back." There were tears in his eyes.

"I had help," she said. "From your great-grandmother." They both looked up, and Rey saw Shmi there. She smiled at them, then slowly faded. A few blue butterflies fluttered by and vanished as well.

"I had help too," said Ben. "I...wasn't abandoned."

There was so much to take in, and so much joyful emotion singing through the bond. Somehow, amid all of it, Rey noticed what Ben was wearing. The outfit reminded her a lot of something Han would wear.

"You changed your clothes," she said.

"I did," he said with a smirk.

"I...uh. I still have your sweater. I kept it. You can have it back now. I didn't fix the hole, though."

Raw affection flooded the bond. "You fixed so much else, though," Ben said.

*

Rey was certain she didn't want to see a desert planet ever again, but she and Ben had one more thing to do on Tatooine before she left it behind for good. Following the Force, they found Shmi's grave at the Lars homestead, next to her husband, her son Owen, and his wife Beru. The headstones had long since disappeared, but she and Ben had new ones made and put them in place.

Rey had scavenged some bits of metal and blue glass and formed them into a butterfly. She attached it securely to Shmi's gravestone. "Thank you," she whispered. "For helping Ben and I have a future."

BB-8 had the Falcon ready to go when they were done at the homestead. After a bit of discussion, Ben settled himself into the pilot's seat and Rey sat in the co-pilot's seat, at least for this leg of the journey. They discussed going back to the Resistance, and they would in the future, but Rey wanted some time just for them first.

"Naboo, then," said Ben. "You'll love it — it's beautiful and green. My grandmother was from there."

"Sounds lovely," said Rey. _Anywhere with you sounds lovely_ , she said through the bond.

Ben grinned and spooled up the engines, and the Falcon took off into a gorgeous binary sunrise.

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from "Little Gidding" by T.S. Eliot, just like my pseud. The voice of the Force in Rey's dream references a Carl Sagan quote, "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself."
> 
> I've wanted to write a Light Side mirror to the Dark Side cosmology I wrote for ["The Only Stars that are Ours"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24011380) (and ["Not Without Your Darkness"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26726140)), and here it is! I used my own imagery of the World Between Worlds that I first wrote about in ["To Hold and Give Light"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22592875), and if you liked this fic you'd probably like that one too. The importance of memory and memorials also comes up in ["An Unexpected Visitor"](https://archiveofourown.org/chapters/68136229).
> 
> There is a real [Butterfly Nebula (aka NGC 6302)](https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2020/news-2020-31) and it looks blue in a recent [Hubble image](https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2020/31/4680-Image).
> 
> And NGC 2899 also looks like a blue butterfly in this [ESO image](https://www.eso.org/public/usa/news/eso2012/)! The hypothesis is that there is a binary star at the center of both of these planetary nebulas.
> 
> Padme helping Ben in the WBW was partially inspired by some comics by [Miss Bliss](https://twitter.com/MissBliss1294) and the story ["do not go gentle into that good night"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21891178) by Lumiera. Shmi helping was inspired by the story ["Servant Song"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21896101) by englishable.
> 
> [The Temple of Eedit](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Temple_of_Eedit)   
>  [Jedi Lightsaber Ceremony](https://rpg.fandom.com/wiki/The_Blade_is_the_Heart_of_the_Jedi_\(Lightsaber\))
> 
> The muja fruit muffin is from ["Variations on a Theme of You"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9898043/chapters/22188641) by diasterisms.
> 
> I'm on Twitter as [@midwintersprin1](https://twitter.com/midwintersprin1). Feel free to say hi, and let me know if I need to tag anything in a DM, a comment here, or on Discord.


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